Furnace door frame construction



Dec. 1, 1959 o. L. BRAUN FURNACE DOOR FRAME CONSTRUCTION Filed July 27,1956 ll| I INVENTOR OTTWIN L BRAUN ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent FURNACE DOOR FRAME CONSTRUCTION Application July27, 1956, Serial No. 600,423

3 Claims. (Cl. 110-172) This invention relates to removable door framesfor furnaces of the type used in the manufacture of steel, andparticularly to locking means for securing the door frames to the frontwall of a furnace of the type having a skewback channel.

Furnaces, such as open-hearth furnaces, are provided with a door openingto which is secured a water-cooled metal door frame, thus providing acooperating frame for a movable water-cooled metal door. In such cases,the frame is usually set on a supporting ledge below the door opening inthe furnace, and its upper end is removably secured to ahorizontally-extending structural section above the door opening that iscalled the skewback channel. The door frames have to be serviced orreplaced from time to time, requiring that the securing means be of acharacter which will permit removal and replacement.

There have been many methods of fastening door frames to the skewbackchannel, such as bolts, wedges and the like, which require considerabletime to apply, and in addition such parts become deformed or mislaidwhen changing a door frame and must be replaced. In many cases the doorframe is not held tightly against the face of the furnace, so that thereis an opening through which flame may blow past the door frame, causingconsiderable damage to both the door frame and the edge of the opening.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a novel means offastening the top of a furnace door frame to the front opening of anopen-hearth furnace after the door frame has been properly positioned atthe front of the furnace.

Another object is to provide a novel locking means of the above typecarried by the door frame and a part of the furnace, such as a skewbackchannel, which will always be available and ready for use.

Another object is to provide a novel locking means of the above typewhich may be readily unlocked and withdrawn from an operating positionwithout being com pletely detached.

Other objects will appear from the following detailed description of theinvention when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a water-cooled door frame for anopen-hearth furnace, said door frame being modified to enable thepractice of this invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section in the plane of line II-II ofFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of another portion of the embodiment of thisinvention for cooperation with the ,portion shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the parts shown inFigs. 2 and 3 arranged in cooperative relation; I

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the parts shown in Figs. 3 and 4; and

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the portion shown in Fig. 3.

shown).

2,915,026 Patent dpec. 1, 1959 Referring to the drawings in detail,Fig.v 1 shows a water-cooled door frame lot the usual type adapted toframe the front opening of an open-hearth furnace (not Secured to thetop edge of the door frame 1 by welding, shown generally as 2, or othersuitable means, is a pair of arms 3 extending upwardly therefrom. Thesearms 3 have their back edges 4 straight, while a portion 5 of the frontedge 6 is sloped or tapered upwardly and inwardly, as shown in-Figr 2,with the arms being narrower at. thetop.

Referring now to Fig. 3,,an anchor or bracket member 7 is shown whichcomprises an upright support element 8 shaped in the form of a trianglewith its apex at the top. Thissupport element 7 is secured at its basetothe top of a skewbackchannel 9 by means of a pair ofhorizontahoutwardly extending mounting lugs 10 and screw thread meansindicated at 11" extending through slots12 in said lugs. While I haveshown the anchor member 7 mounted on the skewback channel 9, which is apart of the furnace wall, it should be understood that any otherstructural member that may extendhorizontally across the-front-of thefurnace from one buckstay to the other will serve for the purpose ofthis invention. It must, however, be a metallic member integrated in thefront wall, of thefurnace at an elevation even withor-slightly above thetop of the door frame'l.

Secured by welding, or othersuitable mounting means, to the middle ofthe front side of the triangular support member 8 is an upright carrierelement or web 13, which is provided with a vertical slot 14, in which apin 15 of a link member 16 is slidably and rotatably received. The linkcomprises two bars 17 secured at their inner ends to opposite ends ofthe pin 15 by welding, or other means, which thus bracket the carrierelement 13. The outer ends of the bars 17 are secured in a similarmanner to a cross pin 18, which may be identical to pin 15, completingthe loop or closing the link member 16. The link member 16 is thusrotatably and slidably mounted for vertical and rocking movement in thecarrier member 13. v

The carrier element 13 is further provided at its top surface with asemi-circular recess or notch 19 having its axis in a transversedirection and parallel to the axes of the pins 15 and 18. This recess 19provides a cavity (Fig. 6) for the pin 15 when the link 16 is swungupwardly to a vertical position out of the area of action. Thus the linkmember 18 may be retained in a position where it does not interfere withother operations and is always available for locking the top of thefurnace door frame -1 in its mounted position.

When the opening in the front of the furnace is to be framed, the doorframe 1 is swung into position on top of a sill or ledge, by hookingonto a loop member 20 secured to the top of the door by any suitablemeans (not shown) with the top of the door abutting the skewback channel9 and the sloped surface 5 of the arms 3 facing outwardly opposite thelocking means 7 as shown in Fig. 4. Each link member 16 is then movedupwardly, carrying pin 18 upwardly out of its recess 19 and pin 15upwardly in the slot 14, and then the upper end of the link member swungoutwardly and rocked in a counterclockwise direction until pin 8 engagesthe tapered surface 5. The link members, being of such sturdiness as towithstand hammering, are then hammered downwardlyat both ends until theyassume positions the same as, or similar to, the one shown in Fig. 3. Inthis position the top of the door frame is held firmly and securelyagainst the outer face of the skewback channel 9, thereby sealing offany blowing-of flame past the edge of the door frame. The most desirableposition of the carrier elements 13 relative to the cams 3 may beobtained by loosening screw'thr'ead means 11, shifting carrier member 13to the desired position, and-then retightening the screw thread means.

It will thus be seen from the foregoing that my invention provides anovelrneans'whichmaybereadily put out of the- Waywhen not inuse, andyet' kept ready and available for use when needed, and-"when" in'useprovides novel means for securing the'furnac'edoor frame in position forengaging the furnace door and maintaining-at all times a tension whichholds the frame tightly against the face of the'fiirnace;

I claim:

1.- In the construction of the front-wall of a furnace having a skewbackchannel therein and a'door frame adapted to be removably mountedagainst'said' skewback channel in said front wall-,-a locking means forsecuring said door framea'gainstsai'd skewback channel comprising a pairof laterally'spaced;upwardly extending rigid arms secured tothe top 'cfsaid door frame and having their outer surfacestapered inwardly with thenarrowest width at the top, a Pairofupwardlyfextending anchormemberssecured to said skewback channel above the level of the top ofsaid d'oor frarrie,- each of said anchor members having avertical slot:therein, and a link means movable vertically in the slot and slidabl yengaging'the tapered surface of one of'said arms to thereby'draw saiddoor frame into sealing contact with said skewback channel as said linkmeans is -'-'forced -downwardly in said slots and over thetaperedsurfaces of said arms;

2. The construction of afurnace wall as described in claim 1 whereineach of the anchor members is provided at its top with an upwardlyopening recess for receiving that portion of the link means whichnormally engages the tapered surfaces of said arms and retaining saidportion therein when notin use.

3. A furnace construction comprising a skewback channel, a door framehaving a top and depending legs with the top facing against the skewbackchannel, a plurality of upwardly-extending arms on the top of the framespaced from one another, a corresponding number of brackets on the topedge of the skewback channel spaced along the chanel to correspond tothe spacing of the arms, and loop-forming links secured to the bracketspivotally and vertically movable with respect to the brackets into andout of position where they loop over the respective arms to releasablyhold the top of the frame against the channel, said brackets having avertical web which is normal to the plane of the face of the skewbackchannel, said web having a vertical slot therein and having a transversenotch in the top edge above, the slot, the link having a transverse pinat one end en gaged in the slot and a transverse pm at its other endWhich may be rested in the notch when the link is vertical and which isengaged across the outer face of the arm on the door when the link is ina normal horizontal operating position.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 760,454Hiser u May 24, 1904 2,674,211 Pottmeyer Apr. 6, 1954 2,721,093 WeilerOct. 18, 1 955 2,731,238 French et al Jan. 17, 1956

